Cedar's ears perked up, and he turned his head to the side, looking back into the room behind him.

He had seated himself on the floor, just in the open doorway of the room, looking out. He wasn't really sure why he was sitting there, like that; He assured himself he was just waiting for hot water, whenever Nina was able to get it ready and bring it from the kitchens-- but deep down, he could tell there was a more complicated answer. He rubbed his head in confusion. He had felt these kinds of impulses from more social forest creatures, but he did not expect to have it suddenly appear inside his own behavior set. It occurred to him that he was guarding a den. Maybe the part of him that was bear, and the part of him that was man, had colluded in some unexpected way?

Regardless, he heard the girl speak for the very first time, then heard shuffles as she clamored out of the bed, then crawled along the floor to hide underneath it.

[i] Master? [/i]

He was sure that was the word the girl had spoken, but he was confused by the implication. People did not have masters-- Domesticated animals-- creatures who had the will and intellectual grit to survive and thrive on their own literally bred out of them-- THOSE had masters, and could not survive without them. A thought that was dark and hideous crawled through his mind, that maybe this girl had been.. Selectively bred.. The same process that humans had used to transform wolves into ... Dogs. The idea of a "Dog-ified" human, disturbed him deeply. What kind of cruel, sick, and twisted being would envision or enact such a thing? He hoped very intensely that this was just his imagination running wild with him, and that there was some other, less horrendous explanation.

Regardless, she seemed able to talk. Maybe she could shed some light on the mystery of what she meant by 'master'.

Since she was already hiding UNDERNEATH the bed, like some trapped animal, he decided to forego standing upright, and instead just levered himself up onto all fours, then plodded slowly into the room, to lay down on the floor beside the bed, 90 degrees to its orientation, looking under it.

"[color=7bcdc8]Hullo un'er 'ere.[/color]" he drawled. He could feel his voice vibrate the floor, with the silly position he had placed himself in. He imagined he must look more like a fat and lumpy 'carpet' at the moment. (another chilling and horrible thing that humans did with wild animals. Carpets.) "[color=7bcdc8]Ya don' hav' ta hide ya know. I won' bitecha.[/color]"